Morton’s uses ‘Adam’s Equity Theory’ as a motivational philosophy for job satisfaction. This focuses on all aspects of employee needs, ranging from the basic salary through to reputation and achievement. It uses the idea that what an employee puts into the business (inputs) must be equal to what they get out of it (outputs). However, despite the fact that it recognises the various issues, it does not differentiate the varying importance of each aspect.
In terms of satisfying the basic needs, Morton’s endeavours to satisfy them and their success is clearly recognised by the fact that in a recent staff survey only 17% of employees wanted more money to do a better job. Morton’s allows flexible hours, which enables their employees to balance their lifestyle with their day-to-work, consequently, mothers are able to earn an income whilst being able to care and support their children, which makes them feel happier and more at ease (thus being more motivated) when attending work. However, disadvantages do occur with the allowance of flexible hours. Staff may take liberties and stretch the limits. Also with flexible hours, come greater costs. This is because Morton’s may have to employ more staff in order to cater for the inconsistent hours that people work. Morton’s believes in equal opportunities, and they actively encourage the employment of people with disabilities. The company takes the opinion that relative experience and the right attitude is more vital than perfect health. On the contrary, according to a recent article, an atheist teacher has won an employment tribunal where he claimed he was prevented from applying for a promotion at a Catholic school. This discrimination is something which Morton’s endeavours to eliminate, and indeed, Morton’s have won two awards for policies and practices for employees with disabilities.
Job security is an important factor of the safety and security sector on the pyramid, and many businesses struggle to provide this. An example is the Hoover factory in Cambuslang, Scotland. It once dominated the vacuum cleaner market - now it only holds a 10% share of this. Indeed, the number of jobs has plummeted from five thousand shop floor employees to just four hundred. Therefore, employees find work daunting as there are high levels of redundancy, consequently resulting in a lack of certainty. Only non-temporary workers receive redundancy pay and there is a chance that workers can be re-employed, once dismissed, at 80% of their original pay. This differs from Morton’s in the respect that job security is generally high although thirty people are being made redundant at Morton’s Newark branch. This is because transfers to the Horncastle plant have been possible for the employees who wanted referral, whilst others, who have not wished to relocate, have been provided with extensive retraining, help and support in order to be able to find new jobs.
Love and belonging is vital for staff to feel happy in their working environment. One aspect of this is job rotation. This is where staff are able to transfer from one task to another. It does not increase responsibility, but can make day-to-day work more interesting. So, when a vacancy arises, it is advertised internally to allow people to further their skills. This creates a sense of familiarity and a stable working environment due to the fact that new staff are not consistently being employed. This scheme is also beneficial to Morton’s because people will already have a fundamental knowledge of their working environment. On joining the company, staff are given a welcome interview, and, following a two-month probation period, they are invited to attend an informal meeting with the company director. Thereafter, they participate in regular appraisals with their manager, where, according to questionnaires, half of the workforce felt able to talk to their managers. This is because ‘managers are an effective filter through the hierarchal system of workers.’ (M.G.). Moreover, suggestion boxes on possible improvements to the business are placed around all the offices. This enables people to voice their opinions confidentially, so that they can be completely honest without the fear of repercussions. The levels of trust within Morton’s have increased recently with the abolition of the system of clocking in and out. Another benefit of this decision was that it saved Morton’s £7-8thousand a year due to the fact that there is now no official electronic registration of employees, consequently meaning that money is not being spent on equipment. Staff achievement is recognised publicly using the staff newsletter and the company intranet. This motivates employees because they feel that their commitment is being recognised in a positive manner. It also makes them feel that they can make contributions and take ownership for the performance of not only themselves but also their teams, and the company as a whole. This is an easy system for Morton’s to uphold as the creation of newsletters and a corporate Intranet is a low cost scheme, whereby the benefits significantly outweigh the costs.
Staff at Morton’s appreciate the fact that they are expected to be involved in decision making in terms of new business proposals and motivational ideas. They are encouraged to discuss ideas with fellow employees and therefore participate in team bonding and fulfilment. This benefits Morton’s because ideas are not generated from the same people and so a wide variety of proposals are suggested. Also, it reduces the work load of specific people, therefore decreasing the responsibility of managers and increasing the responsibility of other staff. This differs highly with the American company ‘Carnival Cruise Line.’ Team building activities are non-existent, and staff feel that they are self employed. This is down to the poor wages of $48 a month, where shifts are twelve hours a day, seven days a week. They have little incentive to work well, and the lack of acceptance and belonging does not promote any positive feelings towards working.
Morton’s is a business that encourages its employees to develop their potential and seek achievement. The company actively encourages activities that take their employees out of their traditional working environment, creating a culture of opportunity. These education opportunities benefit Morton’s because it means that their staff acquire a greater range of skills, which has a knock-on effect because then their employees work more efficiently and productively for the company. Morton’s has adopted the idea that ‘whatever you can do – or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.’ (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe). Morton’s has introduced a job enrichment scheme via the employee development club, whereby workers are encouraged to take responsibility for their own education. Moreover, Morton’s offer their staff the opportunity to enrol on Supervisory and Learn Direct Courses and undertake non-vocational subjects. These courses have a high uptake, with 80% of staff participating in at least one course, thus implying that the staff feel motivated enough to embark on extra work in order to receive self-actualisation. ‘Most people never run far enough on their first wind to find out they’ve got a second. Give your dreams all you’ve got and you’ll be amazed at the energy that comes out of you’ summarises the culture which Morton’s seeks to engender among its employees. This approach is evidently successful because despite the fact that Morton’s pays for such courses, all of them take place outside working hours.
From this coursework, it is apparent that Morton’s are highly successful in motivating their employees. A recent staff survey showed that 94% of the staff were happy to be part of the company and 75% were highly satisfied with their job. Due to the accomplishment of motivating their employees, Morton’s have managed to keep labour turnover at approximately 3%. Labour turnover concerns the rate at which people leave and join a business, so having a statistic as low as this indicates how well motivated their employees are. In contrast, ‘two thirds of employees reported difficulties keeping staff with turnover rising to 25%. According to this article, call centre staff are taking, on average, twelve and a half days sick leave a year, which well exceeds the national average. Staff retention, therefore is a major problem, and indeed, a quarter of the workforce left last year. This highlights the two differing extremes of motivation between Morton’s and companies such as call centres.
All in all, from the analytical and evaluative techniques used in this investigation, it can be seen that Maslow’s hierarchy explains how and why employees at Morton’s are so well stimulated. This is mainly because the motivational schemes that have been implemented have been successful because the benefits of them have outweighed the costs. This has been achieved through the ‘cost-benefit analysis’ where the public and private costs have been counted up in order to assess whether a project should go ahead. There are of course disadvantages to the motivational schemes, but, on the whole, the main result of their ideas is advantageous to both Morton’s and their employees.
See evidence one in appendix
See evidence two in appendix
See evidence three in appendix
See evidence four in appendix
See evidence five in appendix